philosophy

Philosophy Rocks is the book that got me intrested in philosophy. I like the things Stephen Law talks about and brings up. The only problem is he never gives a personal opinion on the subject.

This really is a remarkable book. There's absolutely nothing else like it. I bought it for my fourteen year old son and ended up reading it myself. We both love it. I'm a philosophy graduate and am astonished at how easily Law gets the big ideas across. Martians and monsters, wacky thought experiments, lots of different characters. If you want your kids to learn how to think for themselves, this is the book.

I purchased this book largely on the strength of its excellent recommendations here and was disappointed. Perhaps this is because my expectations exceeded, although I feel confident saying the writing could have been much better written, especially for length. Having just merely one philosophy course to my credit, I'm no expert, but I do recognize in Law's prose the style of the philosopher, one that unfortunately can seem imprecise or repetitive to the rest of us. However, as an editor I had the continual impulse to reach for my correction pen to trim the tiring redundancies that detract from reaching the interesting concepts addressed.

I think I'd like to find a volume aimed at children discussing more contemporary social issues the book lacks connection to (aside from the chapter on vegetarianism that is right on the money) perhaps framed in the philosophies of Locke, Mill, Kant, etc. -- concrete starting points for a child naturally interested in the age-old child's question of what's "fairn" and developinga take on fairness in their own words. Parenthetically, I was amused that the illustrations were done by another person, presumably an artist. They are styled like napkin doodles, which is fine, but would have seemed more personal, appropriate, and sincere from the author himself.

I hope to provide a dissenting voice to give the prospective buyer an alternative view, one I wish I'd heard earlier.